Conversations with Other Women (2005)

Director:

Hans Canosa

Writer:

Gabrielle Zevin (writer)

Release Date:

7 June 2006 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

there are two sides to every love story

Plot:

When a man and woman flirt with each other at a wedding reception, the sexual tension seems spontaneous. As they break from the party to a hotel room, the flirtation turns into a night filled with passion and remorse.

Plot Keywords:

Wedding | Memory | Ex Wife | Female Nudity | Split Screen

Awards:

3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Aaron Eckhart	...	Man
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Woman
Yury Tsykun	...	Bartender at Wedding
Brian Geraghty	...	Groom
Brianna Brown	...	Bride
Thomas Lennon	...	Videographer
Erik Eidem	...	Young Man
Nora Zehetner	...	Young Woman
David Franklin	...	Bartender in Bar
Olivia Wilde	...	Bridesmaid
Cerina Vincent	...	Sarah the Dancer
Philip Littell	...	Jeffrey the Cardiologist
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Will Carter	...	Wedding DJ
Madison Davenport	...	British Girl
Hadley Dion	...	Gwen (Daughter)
Emily Fernandez	...	Girl on Street
Jennifer Herzog	...	Girl on Street
Rozanne Sher	...	Girl on Street

Also Known As:

Conversation(s) with Other Women (Australia)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and sexual content.

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Singapore:M18 | Ireland:16 | South Korea:18 | UK:15 | Finland:K-15 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Gordonstreet Pictures

Trivia:

The film contains 117 visual effects shots, all of which are designed to be "invisible". When the Visual Effects Supervisor, Kwesi Collisson, solicited bids from VFX houses, he received an initial estimated VFX budget of over $1 million, followed by a $400,000 "low budget" estimate. Mr. Collisson decided to execute all of the effects himself, spending four months using Adobe After Effects and Shake software to complete the necessary shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Man: Wish me luck.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 2006 Independent Spirit Awards (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

J'en connais

An Emotional One-Night Stand Made Uniquely Resonant by a Split Screen and Carter's Superb Work

There are so many conventional movies about adulterous chance meetings that the prospects of another one wouldn't seem to be too promising. However, director Hans Canosa takes a rather novel approach with this small-scale 2006 indie film in looking at the illicit one-night stand with a pervasive split-screen process. Most often, the two sides reflect the perspectives from the man and woman at the center of the story, and at other times, we see their individual memories as flashbacks to their youthful courtship. Initially, the gimmicky aspect of watching the duality of the action is rather jarring, but it gradually becomes a dramatically effective means for exhibiting the dynamics of the two characters in real time. Gabrielle Zevin's sharply delineated, often amusing dialogue also helps to bring an immediacy to what could have been a predictably drawn situation.

The intimate, verbose plot itself turns on several contrivances, some more forgivable than others (like the absence of names for the lovers and the misunderstanding arising from matching cell phones). Regardless, it's really the adroit charm and emotional dexterity of the actors that sets this movie apart. Playing yet another rascally man-child, Aaron Eckhart adds shades of mid-life romantic vulnerability that make his character likeably flawed. But the picture really belongs to Helena Bonham Carter's richly textured performance as the woman, easily her best work since 1997's "The Wings of the Dove". As a complacent married woman who feels herself hurtling palpably toward forty, she provides such revealing nuance with each scene that I ended up wondering more about her character's fate than his. With her sad dark eyes and pouty mouth, she looks more like legendary French actress Jeanne Moreau as the years pass.

Shot in only thirteen days and with a running time of only 84 minutes, the movie is quite small in scope, but it is also a relatively undiscovered gem that will hopefully take on new life on DVD. Speaking of which, the 2007 DVD has a surprisingly robust number of extras beginning with Canosa's thoughtful commentary track. Also included are an entertaining 25-minute interview with an easily bantering Eckhart and Carter from the Telluride Film Festival; an insightful five-minute short with the director showing a demo of his dual-camera film-making technique; a helpful four-minute explanation of why split-screen was used specifically for the film; and a less interesting, more technical twenty-minute demonstration of how Canosa used Apple Final Cut Pro software to make his complex edits.